Printing telegraph tape perforator



May 31, 1960 J. L. DE BOO 2,938,583

PRINTING TELEGRAPH TAPE PERFORATOR Filed on. 2, 1957 INVENTOR JEROME L.DEBOOU PRINTING TELEGRAPH TAPE PERFORATGR Jerome L. De Boo, Barrington,Ill., assignor to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Oct. 2, 1957, Ser. No. 687,684

1 Claim. (Cl. 164-111) This invention relates to perforating apparatusand more particularly to tape perforators having punch pins of a new andspecial construction which materially facilitates their selection foroperation.

In the preparation of intelligence bearing tapes such as those used indata processing machines and printing telegraph apparatus, theconventional design of perforator selecting mechanisms has been rathermassive in construction. As a consequence of this mass in the selectingmechanism it has been difiicult to speed them up to the point where theymeet requirements of high speed systems now being developed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a perforatingapparatus in which the selection of punches for actuation is effectedwith a minimum of moving parts.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention for perforating atape there is provided a constantly rotating shaft which through aneccentric drives a punch bail. A second eccentric on the shaft drives atape feeding wheel in timed relation to reciprocation of the punch bailunder control of an electromagnet which renders an eccentrically drivenpawl operable to intermittently rotate the tape feeding wheel. Aplurality of punches each formed in two portions or sections, resilentlyurged into axial alignment one with another, have one of their portionsheld out of operative alignment with the punch bail by the armatures ofde-energized electromagnets individual to them. When the electromagnetsindividual to the punches are energized they will permit the twoportions of the punches to move into axial alignment, one with theother, and with the punch bail, thereby to operate those punches whichhave been selected and cause them to perforate the tape beingintermittently fed past them.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to thefollowing detailed description when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through a perforatingapparatus embodying the features of the invention, the section beingtaken substantially along line 11 of Fig. 2 in the direction of thearrows;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line22 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing details of construction of the specialperforating pin, forming a part of the apparatus, and its relation tothe punch bail; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the abutting ends of the two poritons ofthe punch showing the manner in which they are constructed.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters designatethe same parts throughout the several views it will be seen that theapparatus has a pair of side plates and 11 and an end plate 12 whichsupport the various parts of the apparatus. Journaled in the side plates10 and 11 is a shaft 13. The shaft 13 extends nited States Patent ice anappreciable distance beyond the side plate 11 and has mounted on it adrive pulley 14 which may be driven by a belt (not shown) connected toany suitable motor drive (also not shown).

Mounted on the shaft 13, just inside the side wall 11, is an eccentric15 which is surrounded by a crank ring 16, formed integrally with orsuitably attached to a driving pawl 17. The driving pawl 17 is pivotallyconnected intermediate its ends to a link 18 that is in turn pivotallyconnected to a blocking lever 19 intermediate the ends of the blockinglever 19. Blocking lever 19 is pivoted on a pin 20 fixed to the sideplate 11 and is urged to rock in a counterclockwise direction by acontractile spring 21 suitably fixed to the side plate 11.

The spring 21 tends to move not only the blocking lever 19 but also pawl17 toward the left but the amount of movement of the pawl and theblocking lever 19 is limited by an adjustable stop member 22 pivotallymounted on a stud 23 and adjustably held in position by an adjustingscrew 24 which is threaded into a boss 25 formed on or mounted on theside plate 11. Stop member 22 will block movement of the pawl 17 beyonda predetermined point and consequently will also control the amountwhich the blocking lever 19 can be rocked in a counterclockwisedirection.

An electromagnet 30 suitably mounted on the side plate 11 has anarmature 31 which is normally urged to pivot about a bracket 32 in acounterclockwise direction by a coiled spring 33. The armature 31 has alever 34 mounted on it which, when the electromagnet 30 is deenergized,will be moved by the coiled spring 33, up-into engagement with anadjustable stop 35. In Fig. 1 the electromagnet 30 is shown in itsoperated position where it has attracted its armature 31 andconsequently has moved the lever 34 attached to the armature down intothe path of the upper end of the blocking lever 19. When the blockinglever 19 is held in the position shown in Fig. 1, the pawl 17 willengage with and drive a toothed sprocket or ratchet wheel 36. Theratchet wheel 36 is mounted on a shaft 37 that is journaled in the sidewalls 10 and 11. The shaft 37 has fixed to it a feed wheel 38 which willengage feed perforations formed in a tape 39 to feed the tape step bystep through the apparatus. The feed perforations in the tape 39 may beperforated in it by a feed hole punch which operates invariably eachtime the machine goes through its cycle as is usual in tape perforatorsof this general type and consequently has not been shown herein.

The tape feeding mechanism, just described, is described in more detailand claimed in the copending application of W. J. Zenner, Serial No.656,045, filed April 30, 1957.

Each time the pawl 17 steps ratchet Wheel 36 one place, the ratchetwheel will be held in that position by a spring pressed check pawl 49which is mounted on the side plate 11 and urged against the ratchetwheel by a spring 49. The tape 39 is held in engagement with the feedwheel 38 by a roller 41 which is rotatably mounted on an arcuatelyshaped lever 42 that is pivoted on a shaft 43 and is urged to carry theroller 41 into engagement with the tape by a spring 44 which is wrappedaround the pivot 43 and fixed to a support bracket 45 that extendsacross the apparatus between the plates 10 and 11 and serves to supportthe pivot shaft 43.

The tape 39, which is advanced step by step by the feed wheel 38, may bewithdrawn from any suitable supply thereof and fed over a guide roller52 against which the tape will be held by a spring pressed roller 53mounted on a lever 54 which is urged to rock counterclockwise about apivot stud 55 by a spring 50. The roller 52 and the feed wheel 38 serveto guide the tape 39 in its passage through a tape slot 56 formed in apunch block assemblage designated generally by numeral 57.

The punch block assemblage 57 comprises a die plate 58 having aplurality of die. apertures 59forrned in it. In the present.e'mbodimentof the-invention there are sevenof these die apertures 59provided to co-operate with seven punches 60 for perforating the tape.However it will be understoodthat any'number of punches couldbeprovided.The lower ends of the punches orperforators 60. are guided by a guideplate 61 suitably attachedto the: bottom surface of a glide block 62.The guide block 62,'which is mounted on the bracket 45, has-.top. andbottom guideportions 63 and 64 to which alface plate 65; may be attachedto. partially enclose a perforator portion 66 of each of the punches 60.The

perforator portion 66. ofthe punch 60 has a cutting surface atit'sbdttom edge and intermediate its ends has a slip collar67 attachedto it. Acompression spring 68 en circles part of the perforator portion.66 of the punch 60 between the collar 67 andthe portion 64 of the guideblock 62 and normally tends to hold the punch 60 in the positionshown inFig. '1.

The top portion 63 of the guide block 62 has a plate 69 mounted on itwhich there are a series of guide holes for guiding the upper end of theperforator portion 66 of the. punch 60. The holes in the guide plate 69are vertically aligned with the die apertures 59 in the die plate 58;

The assemblage of the punch block 57 forms a unitary structure which ismounted on the support bracket 45 and has attached to its rear surface aplate 72 that is bent over at its upper end to provide a punch guide 73which guides an actuator portion 74 of each of the punches 60. Theactuator portions 74 of'the punches 60 ride in slots 75 formed in thepunch guide 73 and are normally held in alignment with the perforatorportion 66 of the punch 60 by coiled springs 76 that tightly encircletheshanks of the punch portions 66 and 74 in the area thereof adjacentto bottom end of the portion 74 and the top end of the portion 66. As itwill be seen most clearly by referring to Fig. 4, each of the punchportions 74 has a threaded, annular shoulder 102 formed on it and eachportion 66 has a similar threaded shoulder 103. on it, onto which theirassociated coiled spring 76 is threaded. The spring 76 will thus urgethe two portions toward each other and will tend to hold a roundedprotuberance 84 formed on the lower end of the portion 74 in a roundedsocket 85 formed in the end of the portion 66. Thusthe portion 74 andthe portion 66 of the punch. 60 are normally held in axial alignment,one with the other, and with their adjacent ends in abutting relation. v

The perforator portion 66 of each punch pin 60 has a flat surface at itsupper end surrounding the socket 85 and the actuator portion 74 of eachpunch 60 has a flat perforator-portion-engaging surface at its bottomend surrounding'the protuberance 84 whereby when the two portions of thepunch 60 are held in axial alignment as shown in Fig. 1, by theirsprings 76, the upper end of the actuator portion 74 will present a flatsurface in alignment with a vertically extending hammer portion 77 of apunch bail 78 so that those punches 60 which are held in the positionshown in Fig. l, by their respective springs 76 will, upon reciprocationof hammer 77, be actuated by the punch bail and will be driven throughthe tape 39.

The punch bail 78 comprises, in addition to the hammer portion 77, a topplate 79,,a pair of side plates 80 and retractor plate 81. The retractorplate 81 is provided with a plurality of slots 82 through which theshanks of; the perforator portion 66 of the punch 60 extend and theretractor plate 81 is attached to or formed integrally with the sideplate 80. Each of the perforator portions 66 of the punches 60 has acollar 83. formed on-itor mounted on it, which as shown most clearly in4 Fig. 3, will not pass through the slots 82but will be engaged by theretractor plate 81 when the punch bail 78 oscillates in acounterclockwise direction thus to positively retract a punch 60 whichhas been driven downwardly by the punch bail 78.

A pair of brackets 87 is suitably attached to the punch bail 78 andserves as pivot supports for interconnecting the punch bail 78 with apair of crank arms 88. The crank arms 88 have suitably attached to them,or formed integrally with them, crank rings 89 that, as shown mostclearly in Fig. 1, encircle eccentrics 90fixed to the shaft 13. Thuseach time the shaft 13 rotates the punch bail 78 will be oscillatedabout a punch bail shaft 91 fixed to the plates 10 and 11 7 A pluralityof brackets 92 fixed to the end plate 12 same to support a plurality ofelectromagnets 93 and also to pivotally support the armatures 94 of theelectromagnets 93. Thearmatures 94 are urged -to move away from thecoresof their respective electromagnets 93 by coil springs 95 thereby tocause armature. extensions 96 individual to them to rock to a positionwhere horizontally disposed projections97 on the armature extensionswill rock the actuator portions 74 of punches 60 individual to them tothe oblique portion shown in Fig. 3; In this position the actuatorportion 74 of the punch 60 is out of axial alignment with the perforatorportion 66 of the punch and also out of alignment with hammer portion 77of the punch bail '78. In Fig. 1 the electromagnets 93 are shown intheir energized condition, that is their marking condition and theelectromagnets 93 have attracted their armatures 94 thus to withdraw theprojections 97 from engagement with the actuator portions 74 of thepunches 60. When this occurs the ,two portions 66 and 74 of the punch 60will be axially. aligned one with another and will be aligned with thehammer portion 77 of the punch bail 78. Consequently, when the punchbail 78 is oscillated about its pivot shaft 91 in a clockwise directiondue to the operation of the crank arms 88 under the influence ofeccentric 90, the punches will be driven downwardly and the perforatorportions 66 of the punches 60 will be driven through the tape.

One electromagnet 93 is provided for each punch 69 and consequently theselective energization of the electromagnets 93 will cause the punches60 to be selected in accordance with any code which is applied to theelectro. magnets 93 in the form of marking or spacing, that isenergization or de-energization, respectively of the electromagnets 93,while the electromagnet 30 is energized. The energization of theelectromagnet 30 will cause the tape to be fed step by step past the rowof punches 60 in timed relation to the oscillation to the punch bail 78.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed herein it is to be understood that various modificationsthereof may be made without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:

Record perforatingapparatus comprising means for feeding a record mediumstep by step through a predetermined path, a punch bail, means foroscillating the punch bail in timed relation to the step-by-step feedingof the tape, a plurality of punches extending normal to the path of saidtape and arranged in a row extending transversely of the path ofmovement of the tape, each of said punches having a cutting portion, anactuating portion in end-to-end abutting relation to said cuttingportion and resilient means interconnecting said portions and urgingthem into axial alignment one with the other, an electromagnetindividual to each of said punches and provided with an armaturenormally holding one end of said actuating portion of the associatedpunch out ofi operative relation with the punch bail by holding saidactuating portion out of axial alignment with the cutting portion, saidelectromagnet being operable to relax its hold upon said one end of saidactuating portionofthe punch whereby said operating portion responds tothe 5 urging of said resilient means and moves into operative 1,076,944relation with the punch bail and axial alignment with 1,309,960 theCutting portion. 2,744,578 2,751,008 References Cited in the file ofthis patent 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 200,994 Edison Mar. 5, 1878 6 BilleOct. 28, 1913 Pope July 15, 1919 Mallina May 8, 1956 Cunningham June 19,1956

